World Championship Candidates tournament – first half
Problem: White to play and mate in 3.
The World Chess Candidates tournament in London is at the halfway stage at the time of writing. The event is a double round-robin between eight of the world's elite to select the next challenger to World Champion Viswanthan Anand. The scores after the first of two cycles are: 1-2 Magnus Carlsen (Norway) & Levon Aronian (Armenia) 5/7, 3-4 Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) & Peter Svidler (Russia) 3½, 5-6 Alexander Grischuk (Russia) & Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) 3, 7-8 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) & Boris Gelfand (Israel) 2½.
Pre-tournament favourite Carlsen is living up to his billing, but facing a strong challenge from an in-form Aronian. These two are pulling away from the field with three wins apiece. The only other unbeaten player is second seeded Kramnik, who has the most reason to feel frustrated. His strong play to date has yet to culminate in a win, and he is 1½ points behind with only seven rounds remaining.
Today's is Carlsen's third win from the sixth round at London. He is playing with black pieces against Svidler, who was only half a point behind before the game.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 ---
Increasingly common at the top level are moves like this in the Closed Ruy Lopez. White avoids the Marshall Attack and plays for a complex but level middlegame, eschewing any attempt for a significant opening advantage. 6.--- b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a4 b4 9.Nbd2 0-0 10.a5 Be6 11.Nc4 Rb8
Not defending the b-pawn, but placing the rook on a file that will open soon as c2-c3 is essential to White's strategy.. 12.c3 bxc3 13.bxc3 h6 14.Re1 Qc8 15.Bc2!? ---
A new move. White assesses that after 15.... Bxc4?! 16 dxc4 his doubled c-pawns are less important than the central squares they control and possession of the two bishops. Carlsen prefers to continue his buildup for the standard central counterthrust d6-d5. 15.--- Rd8 16.Qe2 Bf8 17.Ne3 ---
Svidler was critical of this move after the game, as it allows the immediate 17...d5 equalising. 17.--- d5! 18.exd5 Nxd5 19.Nxd5 Rxd5 20.h3 ---
The rook defends e5 and threatens to capture on a5 if White isn't careful. Svidler now pulls back from his intended plan of 20 d4, and it seems as if White is already worse. Carlsen isn't tempted by the a-pawn (20... Nxa5? 21 c4! Rc5 22 Ba3 wins the exchange; 20... Rxa5? 21 Rxa5 Nxa5 22 Nxe5 achieves nothing). Instead he brings his pieces to the centre to take up dominating posts and pressure White's pawn on d3. 20.--- Bf5! 21.Rd1 Qe6 22.Bb1 Qd7!
White threatened 23 Ba2 pinning the rook, so the queen applies more pressure to d3. Here 23 c4!? runs into the sacrifice 23... Rxb1! 24 Rxb1 Bxd3 25 Qe1 Bxc4 26 Rxd5 Qxd5 when Black's two extra pawns and centralised pieces are ample compensation for the exchange. White just finds a way to meet the nasty threat of 23... e4. 23.Be3 e4 24.Nd4 Nxd4 25.Bxd4 exd3
The computer likes the sacrifice 25.... Bxh3!?, but Carlsen didn't even look at it during the game. "At this point I was thinking just straightforward moves were just good enough for a huge advantage." 26.Bxd3 Bxd3 27.Rxd3 c5 28.Be5 ---
The saving resource White saw when playing 23 Be3. 28.--- Rxd3 29.Bxb8 c4!
Simple chess – securing the d3 outpost and making room on c5 for the bishop. 30.Be5 Bc5 31.Rb1 Qd5!
Another strong centralising move, but one that involved accurate calculation. 32.Rb8+ Kh7 33.Qh5?! ---
Creating two threats of mate: 34 Qf5+ g6 35 Rh8# and if 33... Qd7?? then we get the position in today's diagram with mate in three. Instead 33 Re8 was tougher, since 33... f6? 34 Qg4! fxe5? 35 Qf5+ g6 36 Qf6 wins for White. But 33... f5! retains Black's advantage. 33.--- Qe4!
Covering the critical b1-h7 diagonal and at the same time threatening 34... Bxf2+! White has no adequate defence since 34 Bc7 Bxf2+! 35 Kxf2?? Rd2+ mates. Defending f2 leads to a different end.... 34.Rb2 Rd5! 35.Re2 Qb1+ 36.Kh2 f6
Winning the pinned bishop for nothing, so White resigned.
World Championship Candidates tournament – first half
Problem: White to play and mate in 3.
The World Chess Candidates tournament in London is at the halfway stage at the time of writing. The event is a double round-robin between eight of the world's elite to select the next challenger to World Champion Viswanthan Anand. The scores after the first of two cycles are: 1-2 Magnus Carlsen (Norway) & Levon Aronian (Armenia) 5/7, 3-4 Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) & Peter Svidler (Russia) 3½, 5-6 Alexander Grischuk (Russia) & Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan) 3, 7-8 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) & Boris Gelfand (Israel) 2½.
Pre-tournament favourite Carlsen is living up to his billing, but facing a strong challenge from an in-form Aronian. These two are pulling away from the field with three wins apiece. The only other unbeaten player is second seeded Kramnik, who has the most reason to feel frustrated. His strong play to date has yet to culminate in a win, and he is 1½ points behind with only seven rounds remaining.
Today's is Carlsen's third win from the sixth round at London. He is playing with black pieces against Svidler, who was only half a point behind before the game.
1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bb5 a6
4.Ba4 Nf6
5.0-0 Be7
6.d3 ---
Increasingly common at the top level are moves like this in the Closed Ruy Lopez. White avoids the Marshall Attack and plays for a complex but level middlegame, eschewing any attempt for a significant opening advantage.
6.--- b5
7.Bb3 d6
8.a4 b4
9.Nbd2 0-0
10.a5 Be6
11.Nc4 Rb8
Not defending the b-pawn, but placing the rook on a file that will open soon as c2-c3 is essential to White's strategy..
12.c3 bxc3
13.bxc3 h6
14.Re1 Qc8
15.Bc2!? ---
A new move. White assesses that after 15.... Bxc4?! 16 dxc4 his doubled c-pawns are less important than the central squares they control and possession of the two bishops. Carlsen prefers to continue his buildup for the standard central counterthrust d6-d5.
15.--- Rd8
16.Qe2 Bf8
17.Ne3 ---
Svidler was critical of this move after the game, as it allows the immediate 17...d5 equalising.
17.--- d5!
18.exd5 Nxd5
19.Nxd5 Rxd5
20.h3 ---
The rook defends e5 and threatens to capture on a5 if White isn't careful. Svidler now pulls back from his intended plan of 20 d4, and it seems as if White is already worse. Carlsen isn't tempted by the a-pawn (20... Nxa5? 21 c4! Rc5 22 Ba3 wins the exchange; 20... Rxa5? 21 Rxa5 Nxa5 22 Nxe5 achieves nothing). Instead he brings his pieces to the centre to take up dominating posts and pressure White's pawn on d3.
20.--- Bf5!
21.Rd1 Qe6
22.Bb1 Qd7!
White threatened 23 Ba2 pinning the rook, so the queen applies more pressure to d3. Here 23 c4!? runs into the sacrifice 23... Rxb1! 24 Rxb1 Bxd3 25 Qe1 Bxc4 26 Rxd5 Qxd5 when Black's two extra pawns and centralised pieces are ample compensation for the exchange. White just finds a way to meet the nasty threat of 23... e4.
23.Be3 e4
24.Nd4 Nxd4
25.Bxd4 exd3
The computer likes the sacrifice 25.... Bxh3!?, but Carlsen didn't even look at it during the game. "At this point I was thinking just straightforward moves were just good enough for a huge advantage."
26.Bxd3 Bxd3
27.Rxd3 c5
28.Be5 ---
The saving resource White saw when playing 23 Be3.
28.--- Rxd3
29.Bxb8 c4!
Simple chess – securing the d3 outpost and making room on c5 for the bishop.
30.Be5 Bc5
31.Rb1 Qd5!
Another strong centralising move, but one that involved accurate calculation.
32.Rb8+ Kh7
33.Qh5?! ---
Creating two threats of mate: 34 Qf5+ g6 35 Rh8# and if 33... Qd7?? then we get the position in today's diagram with mate in three. Instead 33 Re8 was tougher, since 33... f6? 34 Qg4! fxe5? 35 Qf5+ g6 36 Qf6 wins for White. But 33... f5! retains Black's advantage.
33.--- Qe4!
Covering the critical b1-h7 diagonal and at the same time threatening 34... Bxf2+! White has no adequate defence since 34 Bc7 Bxf2+! 35 Kxf2?? Rd2+ mates. Defending f2 leads to a different end....
34.Rb2 Rd5!
35.Re2 Qb1+
36.Kh2 f6
Winning the pinned bishop for nothing, so White resigned.
0-1
Solution: 1 Rh8+! Kxh8 2 Qxh6+ Kg8 3 Qxg7#.